Over the past couple of years Member States and stakeholders have been disputing if and how the European Union should contribute to the conservation of soils. In 2006, following a comprehensive stakeholder consultation, the European Commission tabled their thematic strategy for soil protection, including a proposal for a soil framework directive. H

The Freie Universität Berlin and the LIAISE Network of Excellence invite papers for the 2012 'Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change', which will be the 11th event in the series of annual European Conferences. This year's conference theme "Evidence for Sustainable Development" addresses the knowledge basis of ...

In January 2012 the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ - will host in Leipzig a four-day training event for young and early career researchers: the LIAISE Winter School. The focus of this event will be on Impact Assessment (IA) as a general procedural framework for policy appraisal in decision-making processes. ...

As the European Commission and the Member States prepare for policies to increase the efficiency of the natural resources use, some of the LIAISE partners are exploring potentials for modelling the impacts of such policies on the various aspects of sustainable development. The LIAISE concept of a Reference Model for Impact Assessment Tools ...

In the run-up to the 2012 World Summit in Rio de Janeiro, a major debate on a “Green Economy” is evolving. The OECD developed a Green Growth Strategy, published in May 2011 (see policy section below). The strategy recognizes the potential benefits of green growth and, unlike previous OECD publications, considers green growth as ...

The Green Week Conference 2011 will be held in Brussels from May 24 to May 27 with this year's theme: Resource Efficiency - Using less, living better. Improving resource efficiency is a flagship initiative of the European Commission and is a core topic of DG Environment. A number of policy initiatives are expected to establish and to implement...

The 2011 International Regulatory Reform Conference held in Amsterdam on March 10 and 11 in Amsterdam, organized by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Dutch government, brought together ca. 300 participants from Europe and abroad to discuss innovations and trends in tools for better regulation...

Impact Assessment remains high on the agenda of the European Commission as several recent publications underlined: The report of the European Court of Auditors with its evaluation of the IA practice, the Impact Assessment Board Report for 2010 or the publications of the roadmaps. A LIAISE survey among ca. 130 experts from 17 countries revealed...

This new edition of the IA Bulletin is going online together with the new LIAISE website. We hope you will find plenty of useful information about Impact Assessment and tools for its support. The present newsletter is in fact an extract of the most relevant information you will find on the website: both are maintained and fed by LIAISE Consortium

The Network of Excellence LIAISE is entering its second year of activities, and this is a good time to summarize the progress towards the main achievements LIAISE is aiming to deliver: 1) a shared IA toolbox; 2) a shared research agenda on IA and 3) post-project durability, the continuation of the activities after the end NoE funding...